Architecture, ceramics and art are often treated as separate disciplines. Maria Gasparian's practice moves fluently between all three.

An architect, artist and designer, Maria works at the point where material, making and the built environment meet. Her practice draws on more than thirty years of architectural experience, specialist knowledge of ceramic design and manufacturing, and doctoral research into architectural ceramics. These multiple perspectives allow her to move effortlessly between the scale of the city and the intimacy of a handcrafted object.

This breadth of expertise has led to collaborations across architecture, manufacturing and the cultural sector. Maria has served on the juries of international architectural awards, contributes to architectural and academic publications, and creates designs for significant architectural projects and prestigious award programmes in the UK and Europe.

Her ceramic artworks are the most instinctive expression of her practice. They are where ideas can be explored freely, guided by curiosity and experimentation rather than function, and where colour, ornament, texture and form become a language in their own right. Whether a sculpture, relief or architectural fragment, each work is conceived to shape the atmosphere and identity of the space it inhabits.

Maria believes that the environments we create influence how we experience the world. At a time when so much of our built environment is driven by efficiency and repetition, her work offers richness, individuality and the lasting presence of the maker's hand. Across every scale of her practice - from architecture to sculpture - her ambition is to create work that contributes to the memory and identity of a place.